A Sick Detective is Never an Easy Case Sneezefic
by SickHolmesLuver
Summary: I have this on SFF as well, but I'm posting it here, too. Holmes catches a cold a while after Mary and Watson move in together. Watson returns to check on his friend, and is appalled at his sorry state. Sick!Holmes fluff ensues. eventual ShWatsonlock
1. Are you ill?

It had been three weeks since I had last heard from my friend Sherlock Holmes. My soon-to-be wife, Mary, was going out of town to see a relative, and so while she was out doing this, I only thought it right to check up on him. As I rounded the corner and strolled down the familiar path of Baker Street, I was surprised to hear no violin music, no screams of Mrs Hudson's horror at what Holmes had done, and not even the faintest scent of an experiment gone wrong- or right. I was not sure whether to be thankful or concerned at this.

The moment I entered through the doorway of 221B Baker Street, I was ambushed by Mrs Hudson. "Doctor Watson! How are you, dear? You look well! Would you like a cup of tea?" Her sweet smile was familiar, and it was nice. "Thank you, Mrs Hudson. Tea would be wonderful. Is Holmes in his room?" I questioned, motioning towards the stairs. "No dear, you just missed him. He's out on a stakeout with the Inspector." She said, walking off towards her kitchen. So that would explain the lack of Holmsian mischief I has sensed... "But you're more than welcome to wait here for him. I'm sure he'll be delighted to see you. He has missed you so."

I chuckled at this as I made my way into the sitting room. It was exactly as it had been when I had lived here, minus a few things that had belonged to me. Of course the place was all a mess, as was the nature of my companion. I sat in my old chair and looked through the newspapers on the table, trying to find a clue as to what Holmes was out doing.

~SH~SH~SH~SH~SH~SH~SH~SH~SH~SH~SH~SH~

A few hours had passed, and Holmes still had not shown up. It was getting late, and rain had began to thrum steadily on the window. I wondered for a moment just where Holmes could possibly be, and why a simple stakeout would take so long, when the door downstairs slammed closed. A smile found it's way to my face involuntarily as I stood, but fell quickly as Holmes stepped in the door. His clothes clung to him, heavy from rain, his face was pale except for two heightened spots on color in his cheeks, and dark circles loomed under his eyes, which shone brightly. "Watsod!" His voice sounded scratchy as well, and quite congested... But his smile was wide. "What ARE you doigg here? I've just returned frob a stakeout with Idspector Lestrade, as I'b sure Mrs Hudsod has idforbed you... Eh... hih... Haishoo! HetCHOO! "

"Bless you, Holmes! Are you ill?" I asked, moving towards him so we were only about arms length away. "Just a slight head cold, Watsod, dothigg you deed to worry about. But this case-" I cut him off briskly, grabbing his shoulders and placing my hand on his forehead. He definitely had a fever. Nothing too high or worrisome, but just enough so that he should have at least enough common sense to stay out of work! But that was just Holmes. He pulled away quickly, then pulled out his handkerchief. "Ah...Heh... HASHOO! H'xXnG! HepNxXGnT!

"What were you thinking, going out ill like that? You've probably done your cold worse! Sometimes Holmes, I swear you are such a child! And I can't always be here to take care of you!" While scolding him, I had forced him into his chair and was now crouched down in front of him. His brown puppy-like eyes stared up at me as he sniffled pathetically. "Watsod, please. There is do deed to bake a fuss over a bloody cold!" I rolled my eyes at him. "Except with you, Holmes, there is! Because you can never have the common sense to just stay in bed! I swear, you could wake up one morning with the bloody Plague and still head out with the yard!"

He sighed and rested his head in his hands. "So sidce Mary is gode for the dext few days, I suppose I've got by old persodal doctor back?" I chuckled softly and ruffled his hair. "I suppose... But just for the remainder of the week." I turned to go ask Mrs Hudson to prepare some tea for Holmes, and I swear I could feel my friend's features fall. 


	2. Fits and caring

I had had a lot of patients in my day, but the worst by far had to be Holmes. After I had returned with Mrs Hudson's tea, he had curled himself into the chair, knees drawn up to his chest, his head resting atop them. His clothes were still wet from the rain he had so carelessly walked home in, as was his hair which clung to his forehead, and he was shivering constantly. Needless to say, he looked utterly pathetic. Maybe it was the care taker in me, but some part of me found him to look quite adorable in this state. This train of though was cut off quickly by a series of loud sneezes that had exploded forward, catching even my friend off guard. "HeTiSHOO! HaiCHOO! Huh... HAtSCHoo! EeeeTCHOO!"

"Here," said I, setting the tea down on the table and offering my hand out to him. "Let's get you changed into something a bit dryer, hmm?" He took my hand and stood, with a muttered "Yes, nanny."

After he had gotten changed and was no longer shivering, I guided him back to the sitting room and thrust the cup of tea into his hands. He lifted the cup to his lips and drank is silence for a moment, before setting it back on the table. "Watsod, I dod't udderstadd what the big deal is. It's just a sibple cold." At this, his breath began to hitch and he pulled out his handkerchief, just in time to catch three rather wet sneezes. "..AhTiSCHOO! HaaaptCHOOO! AAATCHOOO!" He rubbed his slowly reddening nose and sniffed a few times.

"Bless. And the 'big deal' is that you went out like this! How long have you been ill, Holmes?" He avoided my eyes and said nothing. "Holmes." I said, a bit sternly. "Answer me. How long have you been ill?"

"A few days..." He admitted quietly.

"A few days! So you knew you were ill when you went out on the stakeout! Why didn't you tell the Inspector you could not come? You've got to take better care of yourself!" It was that moment it had dawned on me that Holmes had not been wearing a jacket when he had came through the door. I sighed frustratedly. It was like he was trying to get Pneumonia! I stood and walked to the coat rack, grabbed Holmes' jacket and walks back over to him.

"Do you know what this is?" I asked.

"...My jacket?"

"Oh, so you do know. Why do you not wear it then?"

"I didd't thigk it was that decessary. The tebperature wasd't all that low whed I had left..." He sniffed heavily again, scrubbing furiously at his nose.

"But you're ill! You should have had the common sense to not go at all, or at least stay bundled up when you did go!"

He sighed dramatically. "Watsod, cad we please skip the lecture? I'b dyigg!" Groaning, he stretched and laid sideways in the chair of dramatic affect. I rolled my eyes at this and smiled slightly. His dramatic act was made all the more convincing when he was over taken by a fit of coughing loud enough to wake the dead, which quickly turned to a sneezing fit.

"Heh... hih... AISHOO! HetCHOO! HeIhITchOO! Hah... heh... hIIIIItCHOO! HuRRASHOO! HEhTNgXxnT! NxGXnT!...Ugh... HAtCHOO!" He blew his nose into the handkerchief and glanced at me wearily. "...If you dod't bidd, Doctor, I fully surredder byself to your care, just bake this stop!"

I could not help but chuckle at this. "I will, Holmes, but it takes time. You know what helps? Rest. And I think you're much overdue for it. When was the last time you slept?"

"About the sabe tibe as the odset of this wretched cold."

Of course. "Well then, let's get you to bed." He responded with another dramatic groan. "My bidd rebels at stagdatiod. Sleep is the furthest thigg frob be at this bobedt... EhHItCHOO!"

"Do you want to get well again sometime soon?"

"You dow what, I'b suddedly begiddigg to feel sleepy."

"I thought you would." 


	3. Medicine

After getting Holmes to bed, I went to fetch a cloth, and a basin of cold water. He'd definitely not done himself well with going out on the stakeout.

"Hasshoo! HaiSHOO! 'tCHOO! EpptNgxNxT! W-Wa-... Ah... Hah... HATCHEW! HeEptTCHOO!" Holmes' sneezes rung throughout the flat so loudly, I was almost certain that they could be heard down the street. "Watsod..." His tired voice groaned. I grabbed the cough syrup from my bag and entered his room to find him laying under the covers, handkerchief pressed to his nose. "Heh... huh... H-h... W-Watso- Ah...Ugh." He removed the handkerchief from his nose and gave me a look of utter exhaustion, which I exchanged for one of sympathy.

"Come now, Old Boy, I've brought you medicine." I held up the bottle in my hand and poured some into a spoon.

At the sight of this, my friend drew back under the covers. "Watsod, stay away frob be with that FOUL liquid!"

"Holmes, it will help!"

"Help? That will berely put be to sleep, add leave a rather udpleasant ta...Ah..." The handkerchief was brought to his nose once again. "Hih... Ih... EeeetCHOO! This godawful tickling is bessigg with be..." He blew his nose wearily. I chuckled slightly as his earlier remark. Wouldn't that be nice, Holmes sleeping.

"Oh, just take the damned medicine!"

"No." His flat out refusal I found to be- I must admit -quite comical, were it not so utterly irksome.

"What can I do to get you to take it?"

"Dothigg." He snuffled stubbornly. "Dothigg id this world will bake be wadt to willingly put that disgustigg liquid anywhere DEAR by bouth."

I sighed frustratedly as Holmes crossed his arms, looking much like a stubborn child, for that's exactly what he was. A sick man is no better than a child, and Sherlock Holmes showed that sentence truth thoroughly. 


	4. Confessions and cuddles

WARNING: M/M ahead!  
>-<p>'Holmes, please!" I was nearly begging. We had been arguing over the medicine for a good ten or twenty minutes now, and he still refused to take it.<p>

"No."

"Yes!"

"No."

"HOLMES!"

"Gettigg frustrated will get you dowhere, Watsod."

"Holmes, I-"

"Hah..SHOO! "

"Bless. I-"

"HepTihSHOO! HAitCHOO!"

By this time I had set the medicine on his nightstand and sat beside him as he held the handkerchief to his twitching irritated nose.

"Heh...HAtChEW! 'CHOO! Huh-ChuMPf! HehKSH! HAtKSsSH!" He sniffled miserably and laid his head against my shoulder, the intensity of his sneezing fit leaving him drained.

"Holmes..." I spoke softly and with all the quiet care of a doctor. "It really would help you get well again."

"I refuse."

"For god sakes man! It's just some bloody cough syrup! Surely you can face it!"

"I have faced a lot of thiggs, by dear Watsod. But I... ahh... I bust codti-iiiiih... tidue t-to... HaahApPtCHOO!" The sneeze was not caught in the handkerchief, but sprayed out in front of him. He ran a hand under his nose and continued. "To protest that godawful, dreadful, liquid. IF you could eved codsidder it a liquid."

"Fine then, if you insist on being so stubborn, will you at the very least take a nap? For your own health!" And mine as well. "As your doctor and friend, I would advise it."

Holmes stopped for a moment before he picked his head up from my shoulder and moves his lips next to my ear. His voice was still thick with congestion, and I could feel his hot breath on my neck. "I shall do what you ask, doctor...If you will do sobethigg for be..."

"What is it?" I asked, my voice was low, I almost couldn't hear it.

"Lay besides me?"

My heart skipped a beat at the invitation to be nearer to him. It was of the strangest things, though. I WANTED to be nearer to him. Not a thought of Mary was on my mind as I lifted my legs from the floor and into the bed. Holmes fixed himself so that his head was on my chest, his knees resting against my thigh. My arms wrapped around his slightly shaking form. He lifted his head to look at me as if to say something... But the words did not pass instead,

"HaSHEW!"

He sneezed suddenly and urgently, the spray from it lightly hitting the side of my face. I didn't panic, didn't scream like a little girl, or even flinch. I simply wiped it with the back on my hand. In all my years of doctoring I had been sneezed on by many people, and it had a curious effect. I did not find it an all together terrible experience.

"Oh.." He looked back up at me sheepishly. "I... Apologize, my dear Watsod... It caught be off guard..." He sniffed a few times.

I gave him a sympathetic look, and planted a small kiss on his nose, which was constantly twitching. "It's completely fine, Holmes. A natural reaction, you could do nothing to stop it."

A few moments of absolute silence went by once again and I had figured that Holmes had drifted off to sleep. But then, wide chocolate brown eyes turned up on me. "So obvious... I am surprised I had dot seed it before..."

"Hmm?"

"You, Watsod. I have beed blide (Blind) to it all these year we were udder the sabe roof together... But dow it seebs too obvious..."

"What on earth are you speaking about, Holmes?" Part of me was beginning to wonder just how high his temperature was.

"You have feeliggs for be."

Time froze. Everything froze.

"But Watsod, it is all right... For I too, have beed... Well... Not entirely hodest with by feeliggs..."

I did nothing but stare down at him for a moment, letting this sink in. He was admitting that he loved me, in his own Holmesian way... and as usual, he was completely correct... My feelings for him happened to cross the border of friendship... If not by much, but it was still across... and he felt the same? How could this be? The man spoke of love like it was a curse. A disease...

Unknowingly, I had created a silence that stretched on far too long. "Holmes..." I said quietly. "Your deductions never cease to amaze me with how utterly, obnoxiously correct they are." My arms wrapped around him and I held him tightly to me.

"HetSCH!" He sneezed wetly into my shirt, as he returned the embrace. I blessed him softly and held him until my sick detective fell asleep in my arms, me following shortly after. 


	5. And they all lived Sniffly ever after

I apologize for my temporary Hiatus! I was out of ideas and motivation (School is not exactly friendly to the creative process...), but I'm BACK, and ready to roll! :3 -

The remainder of the week went by quite fast. But it was near the end of this time period things took a turn. For the worse or better I will leave to your judgement.

Precisely three days after the incident I had explained previously, Holmes had gotten over the worst of his cold, and was beginning to fall back to his normal ways. Of course, I prompted him to eat more, and get more rest. To which he would happily oblige if I was engaging in it with him. After some consideration, and a rather long discussion with Holmes, I had indeed decided to break off my engagement with Mary-a telegram it almost hurt to send- and move back into Baker Street.  
>~SH~<p>

The day had started relatively normal, with Holmes messing about with his chemistry supplies, getting excited over something, as a small child would. I could hear him from where I lay in the bedroom upstairs. I often did this, just sat and listened to my friend-turned-lover as he poured chemicals into chemicals and talked aloud about the reactions. But even just laying there can become quite tiresome sometimes, and I was forced to swing my legs over the side of the bed.

Sitting up quickly, I discovered, was not a particularly good idea. My head spun, and my vision went out of focus for a moment. There was a dull ache behind my eyes, and something that could only be described as an itching in my nose, which I rubbed a hand against. To no affect, apparently.

"H'eSCSH! HEp'SCHH! H'PnGXnnt!" The sneezes took me by surprise and I had not had enough time to retrieve a handkerchief, so I had tried my best to catch them in the crook of my arm. I sniffled quietly and groaned. I should have known that I would catch Holmes' cold. I could have and should have prevented it.

"Watson?" I heard footsteps coming up the stairs and towards the door. "Watson, are you quite well?" Holmes asked, his voice now close to the door.

"Fine, Holmes, I- iiihhh... I...Haah... Just... H'ETCH! H'CHUmF! HuhCHESCH!" I rubbed at my nose, trying to expel the itching that never seemed to want to leave.

Holmes entered the room, brow furrowed and worry lining his features as he sat down beside me on the bed. "My dear Watson, it appears you have caught my cold..."

"Gedious deductiod, Holbes..." I winced at the congestion in my voice. "You dever cease to abaze be."

"Oh hush now." He said as one would to a small child. "Since you've played doctor so well for me, I shall do the same for you. Now get back under the covers."

I did as he said, and felt the need to remind him that I actually WAS a doctor, therefore not playing as one, but the need to sneeze overtook me before I got the chance. "H'EtCH! H'CCHX!"

I sniffled again, and gratefully took the handkerchief Holmes held out to me gently. I blew my nose rather forcefully into it, and glanced at him.

He smiled sweetly and planted a kiss on my forehead. "Get some rest, mother hen."

"I do believe this tibe it is YOU beigg the bother hed, Holbes." I smiled at the bit of irony.

His soft chuckle was music to my ears as his hand gently stroked the side of my face. "If it will help you, I shall lay next to you."

"I would like that very buch... Thadk you."

Holmes climbed into the bed beside me, and I rested my head atop his. I felt his arms lock securely around me, and felt at peace.

YAY, Happy fluffy ending~! Any other stories or anything you guys would like to see? I am SO idea pumped right now it's not even funny xP 


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